Chapter 12 : Writing About People – The Interview
This chapter explains writing about people and how you should interview them. When interviewing someone you don’t need to use a tape recorder. You should write down important details because the tape recorder will only have too much useless information. The only time you could use a tape recorder is if it’s a transcript. Ask questions that will give the interviewer to answer with detailed questions. When you write down all the information you needed, complete unfinished sentences and then as soon as you can type it up at neatly as possible. This way you can read and understand them. Make sure you pick out the most interesting points and choose those to put in the writing.
Chapter 16 : Business Writing – Writing in Your Job
In business writing, you need to be yourself when you are writing. You don’t want to sound the same as other companies, you want to stand out so people will be more attracted to your work. You will seem like a real person and not some robot. Anxiety plays a part in this because you don’t want you sentences to lack humanity, this may be why most people are scared to write for their businesses. You have to remember that you are writing to improve your business don’t write just to write. Think about how it may help your company.
Example
At the Lawrence Shoes Company, we design each shoe by hand and uniquely what we want on the shoe and how we want it to come out. We believe that machines never go into full detail as much as the human hand can. We even give you the opportunity to tell us how you want your shoe to look and we hand make it, and ship it right to you. Our prices are very reasonable unlike major company that make you spend money on shoes that will break the next month. Check out our inventory today, or custom make yours online. We want our customers’ needs to be first and if you aren’t 100% satisfied, you send the shoes back for a full refund before 30 days of being received. Thank you for choosing Lawrence Shoes, we hope to see you soon!
Chapter 17 : Sports
There are many people who write about sports that Zinsser refers to as lazy. They use unnecessary words to try to get the readers to understand when those words don’t belong there. Good sportswriters know that readers want to read who won but not with much enjoyment. They don’t use synonyms they go for fresh words in their sentences. You want to be as clear as possible and go into detail without boring your readers. You want the readers to be able to visualize what is happening or what has happened and who does what. You want readers to understand who you’re talking about and how the event went down.
Example
Track is a sport that’s what my coach would say 60% physical and 40% mental. This is because you can’t just go into a race empty minded, you need a plan. Most people think that Track is easy, but as soon as they step foot on the track they are clueless. Track races have a tendency of being fast pace because you have to think ahead all the time. A good track runner has a technique and has a good mindset. Most people don’t understand the rules that’s exactly why they think “track is a piece of cake.” How would you react if you are on the track at the starting line nerves jumping and not knowing the results, you have a million thoughts in your mind then you hear a Loud gun in your ear? BANG! I bet you’d probably take two steps then trip over the person next to you, but a track runners deal with that on a daily basis and knows how to handle it. You can’t be a track runner empty minded, you must have some kind of idea.
Chapter 18 : Writing About the Arts – Critics and Columnist
When writing about the arts, whether it’s singing, acting. dancing, etc, you want to go into detail on the art and how its cultural background still relates to today. You have to have clear opinions and ideas that way readers will understand what you are trying to tell them. There’s no need to be indirect with what you are trying to get across, that in fact messes up your work adding unnecessary words in. You want your words to express the feelings and emotions the art has and using extra words won’t help you make that more understandable. When using criticism, you start by giving your readers a quick opportunity to read what you have in store for them. Criticism is usually found in journalism but can be used almost anywhere.
This chapter explains writing about people and how you should interview them. When interviewing someone you don’t need to use a tape recorder. You should write down important details because the tape recorder will only have too much useless information. The only time you could use a tape recorder is if it’s a transcript. Ask questions that will give the interviewer to answer with detailed questions. When you write down all the information you needed, complete unfinished sentences and then as soon as you can type it up at neatly as possible. This way you can read and understand them. Make sure you pick out the most interesting points and choose those to put in the writing.
Chapter 16 : Business Writing – Writing in Your Job
In business writing, you need to be yourself when you are writing. You don’t want to sound the same as other companies, you want to stand out so people will be more attracted to your work. You will seem like a real person and not some robot. Anxiety plays a part in this because you don’t want you sentences to lack humanity, this may be why most people are scared to write for their businesses. You have to remember that you are writing to improve your business don’t write just to write. Think about how it may help your company.
Example
At the Lawrence Shoes Company, we design each shoe by hand and uniquely what we want on the shoe and how we want it to come out. We believe that machines never go into full detail as much as the human hand can. We even give you the opportunity to tell us how you want your shoe to look and we hand make it, and ship it right to you. Our prices are very reasonable unlike major company that make you spend money on shoes that will break the next month. Check out our inventory today, or custom make yours online. We want our customers’ needs to be first and if you aren’t 100% satisfied, you send the shoes back for a full refund before 30 days of being received. Thank you for choosing Lawrence Shoes, we hope to see you soon!
Chapter 17 : Sports
There are many people who write about sports that Zinsser refers to as lazy. They use unnecessary words to try to get the readers to understand when those words don’t belong there. Good sportswriters know that readers want to read who won but not with much enjoyment. They don’t use synonyms they go for fresh words in their sentences. You want to be as clear as possible and go into detail without boring your readers. You want the readers to be able to visualize what is happening or what has happened and who does what. You want readers to understand who you’re talking about and how the event went down.
Example
Track is a sport that’s what my coach would say 60% physical and 40% mental. This is because you can’t just go into a race empty minded, you need a plan. Most people think that Track is easy, but as soon as they step foot on the track they are clueless. Track races have a tendency of being fast pace because you have to think ahead all the time. A good track runner has a technique and has a good mindset. Most people don’t understand the rules that’s exactly why they think “track is a piece of cake.” How would you react if you are on the track at the starting line nerves jumping and not knowing the results, you have a million thoughts in your mind then you hear a Loud gun in your ear? BANG! I bet you’d probably take two steps then trip over the person next to you, but a track runners deal with that on a daily basis and knows how to handle it. You can’t be a track runner empty minded, you must have some kind of idea.
Chapter 18 : Writing About the Arts – Critics and Columnist
When writing about the arts, whether it’s singing, acting. dancing, etc, you want to go into detail on the art and how its cultural background still relates to today. You have to have clear opinions and ideas that way readers will understand what you are trying to tell them. There’s no need to be indirect with what you are trying to get across, that in fact messes up your work adding unnecessary words in. You want your words to express the feelings and emotions the art has and using extra words won’t help you make that more understandable. When using criticism, you start by giving your readers a quick opportunity to read what you have in store for them. Criticism is usually found in journalism but can be used almost anywhere.